The present application relates to computer technology, and more specifically, to training neural networks.
Technical problems such as character recognition and image recognition by a computer are known to be well handled by machine-learning techniques, which typically use neural networks. Neural networks are a class of algorithms based on a concept of inter-connected “neurons.” In a typical neural network, neurons have a given activation function that operates on the inputs. By determining proper connection weights (a process also referred to as “training”), a neural network achieves efficient recognition of a desired patterns, such as images and characters. Oftentimes, these neurons are grouped into “layers” in order to make connections between groups more obvious and to each computation of values. Training the neural network is a computationally intense process.